space
robots - international space station

international space station [iss], a truly
international mission - the space robots

The mission taking
off tomorrow, Tuesday 11 March, in the Space Shuttle Endeavour, will include
a Japanese storage module, a high-tech Canadian robot with 11-foot-long
arms, and a seven-man crew.

There will also be included in the shuttle’s payload some small
boomerangs, which Japanese astronaut Takao Doi will throw to determine
whether they will return in weightless conditions.

And just launched from Guiana space station, on a special heavy-weight
version of the Ariane 5 rocket, is the European Space Agency’s contribution
to the International Space Station [ISS] - the first unmanned, Automated
Transfer Vehicle, Jules Verne. This space freighter will wait in a holding
position until the Endeavour has left before docking with the Space Station.

giant Canadian two-armed
robot

[click on image to go to larger version]

“Dextre-which cost more than 200 million U.S. dollars-was created
by the same Canadian team that built the space shuttle and space station
robot arms [Canadarm1 and Canadarm2].

“Equipped with a tool holster, Dextre is designed to assist spacewalking
astronauts and, ultimately, to take over some of their dangerous outdoor
work.

“Dextre can pivot at the waist, and has seven joints per arm.
Its hands, or grippers, have built-in socket wrenches, cameras, and
lights. Only one arm is designed to move at a time to keep the robot
stable and avoid a two-arm collision. The robot has no face or legs
and, with its long arms, certainly doesn't look human.

“Space station astronauts will be able to control Dextre, as
will flight controllers on the ground. The robot
[Dextre] will be attached at times to the end of the space station arm
[Canadarm2], and also be able to ride by itself along the space station
arm's railway.”

[click on image to go to larger version]
Canadarm 2 and Dextre both run on a railway track that extends the length
of the ISS. Video
of the robotic Canadarm 1 at work on the Space Shuttle.

At present, humans are faster and can use more
tools. The Canadian robot arm can be operated remotely from the Space
Station, or from the ground.

“The Japanese module is the first of two that will make up an
entire wing of the space station, a state-of-the-art addition that will
complement U.S. and European research modules.”
—
“Japan is supplying three critical components to the station,
known collectively as Kibo, or Hope, in English. The centerpiece of
the Japanese addition is the huge Japanese Experiment Module that will
be bolted to the left side of the Harmony connecting module in late
May. The smaller pressurized module carried aloft by Endeavour will
serve as a logistics depot and ultimately will be mounted to a port
on the lab module's outboard upper end.”

Jules Verne
space freighter

“The European Space Agency [ESA] successfully launched the Jules
Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle, or ATV, Saturday evening from Kourou,
French Guiana, atop powerful Ariane 5 rocket. The ATV, carrying more
than 10,000 pounds of equipment and supplies - about three times the
cargo of an unmanned Russian Progress freighter - is scheduled to dock
at the station April 3, after Endeavour is back on Earth.” [Quoted
from spaceflightnow.com]

“The 32-foot (10-meter) long cylinder with a diameter of about 14.7
feet (4.5 meters) and a roomy cargo hold for food, clothes, new equipment
and rocket fuel for the ISS.”
—
“ESA partner nations have spent 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion)
developing the spacecraft as part of a barter system to send future European
astronauts and experiments to the ISS.” [Quoted from space.com]

The ATV is unmanned and automated, using GPS technology to arrive 300
metres from the space station, then doing its final docking with visual
sensors. Once docked, the astronauts will unload the cargo (using conduits
for the air and water), then load it up with trash from the station.
During its 6-month stay, the ATV will burn fuel in its booster rockets
to move the space station to a higher orbit (the orbit of the space
station gradually decays over time).

After 6 months, the ATV will be sent Earthwards, where it with break
up in to many small pieces over the Pacific Ocean.

International
Space Station facts and figures

dimensions: 111 x 89 m (including solar panels)

mass: 445 tonnes

habitable space: 1200 m3

solar panels: nearly one acre, providing electricity to six laboratories